Critical Thinking: A Student’s Introduction

550 Pages·2012·45.479 MB·English

by  Gregory Bassham, William Irwin, Henry Nardone

CRITICAL THINKING
A STUDENT' INTRODUCTION
S
FIFTH EDITION
Gregory Bassham
William Irwin
Henry Nardone
Janies M. Wallace
King’s College
Connect
|Learn
ISucceed
Connect
i Learn
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CRITICALTHINKING:ASTUDENT’SINTRODUCTION, FIFTHEDITION
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Critical thinking:astudent’sintroduction / GregoryBassham... [etal.].— 5th ed.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesand index.
ISBN978-0-07-803831-0(alk.paper)
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1. Critical thinking Textbooks. I.Bassham,Gregory, 1959-
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CONTENTS
A Word to Students ix
Preface xi
CHAPTER1 Introduction to CriticalThinking l
What Is Critical Thinking? 1
Critical ThinkingStandards 2
Clarity 2
Precision 2
Accuracy 3
: Relevance 3
Consistency 4
Logical Correctness 5
Completeness 6
Fairness 6
TheBenefits ofCritical Thinking 7
Critical Thinking in the Classroom 7
Critical Thinking in the Workplace 9
Critical Thinking in Life 9
Barriers to Critical Thinking 10
Egocentrism 11
Sociocentrism 13
Unwarranted Assumptions and Stereotypes 16
Relativistic Thinking 19
Wishful Thinking 24
Characteristics ofa Critical Thinker 25
in
IV Concents
CHAPTER2 Recognizing Arguments 29
What Is an Argument? 29
Identifying Premises and Conclusions onoo
What Is Not an Argument? 40
Reports 40
Unsupported Assertions 41
Conditional Stafeinents 41
Illustrations 43
Explanations 43
CHAPTER3 Basic LogicalConcepts 53
Deduction and Induction o3
How Can We Tell Whether an Argument Is Deductive
or Inductive? 56
Hie Indicator Word Test 57
The Strict Necessity Test 58
The Common Pattern Test 58
The Principle of Charity Test 59
Exceptions to the Strict Necessity Test 61
Common Patterns of Deductive Reasoning 62
Hypothetical Syllogism 62
Categorical Syllogism 65
Argument by Elimination 66
Arqumeut Based on Mathematics 66
Argument from Definition 67
Common Patterns of Inductive Reasoning 67
Iuditctii>e Gei/eraIization 68
Predictive Argument 68
Argumcnt from Authority 69
Causal Argument 69
StatisticaI Arqiuncut 70
r.S
Argument from Analogy 70
Deductive Validity 73
Inductive Strength 77
CHAPTER 4 Language 86
Finding the Right Words: The Need for Precision 86
Vaqueuess 87
Overgenerality 88
Ambiguity 89
Contents V
The Importance of Precise Definitions 93
Types of Definitions 94
StrategiesJor Defining 96
Rulesfor Constructing Good Lexical Definitions 100
Emotive Language:Slanting theTruth 106
The Emotive Powerof Words 108
Euphemisms and Political Correctness 114
CHAPTER 5 LogicalFallacies-I 119
The Concept ofRelevance 119
Fallacies ofRelevance 121
Personal Attack (Ad Hominem) 122
Attacking the Motive 123
Look Who’s Talking (Tu Quoque) 124
Two Wrongs Make a Right 125
Scare Tactics 127
Appeal to Pity 128
Bandwagon Argument 128
Straw Man 129
Red Herring 130
Equivocation 131
Begging the Question 132
CHAPTER 6 LogicalFallacies— II 140
Fallacies of InsufficientEvidence 140
Inappropriate Appeal to Authority 140
Appeal to Ignorance 144
FaIse AIternatives 145
Loaded Question 146
Questionable Cause 147
Hasty Generalization 149
Slippery Slope 150
Weak AnaIogy 151
Inconsistency 154
CHAPTER7 Analyzing Arguments 164
DiagrammingShort Arguments 164
Tips on Diagramming Arguments 169
SummarizingLonger Arguments 175
Paraphrasing 176
VI Concents
Finding Missing Premises and Conclusions 180
Summarizing Extended Arguments 182
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Standardizing Arguments 187
CHAPTER 8 Evaluating Arguments and Truth Claims 195
When Is an Argument a Good One? 195
What uGood Argument” Does Not Mean 195
Wlmt aGood Argument” Does Mean 196
When Is It Reasonable to Accept a Premise? 198
RefutingArguments 203
Appendix:Sample CriticalEssay 219
CHAPTER 9 A Little CategoricalLogic 225
CategoricalStatements 225
TranslatingintoStandard Categorical Form 230
CategoricalSyllogisms 237
CHAPTER10 A Little PropositionalLogic 252
Conjunction 253
Conjunction and Validity 256
Negation 261
Deeper Analysis ofNegation and Conjunction 265
Disjunction 271
ConditionalStatements 276
CHAPTER11 Inductive Reasoning 285
Introduction to Induction 285
Inductive Generalizations 286
Evaluating Inductive Generalizations 288
Opinion Polls and Inductive Generalizations 292
Statistical Arguments 296
Reference Class 299
Induction and Analogy 302
What Is an Analogy? 302
How Can We Argue by Analogy? 303
Contents VII
Evaluating Argumentsfrom Analogy 304
/ Arguing by Analogy 310
Induction and Causal Arguments 312
Correlation and Cause 316
A Few Words about Probability 318
A Closer Look at a Priori Probability 320
CHAPTER12 Finding, Evaluating, and Using
Sources 327
FindingSources 330
Refining Your Search: Questions and Keywords 331
Directional Information 333
Informational Sources 335
EvaluatingSources 338
Content: Facts and Everything Else 338
The Author and the Publisher 343
The Audience 348
Evaluating Internet Sources 349
Taking Notes 356
Bibliographical Information 356
Content Notes: Quotes, Summaries,and Paraphrases 357
UsingSources 367
Acknowledging Sources 367
Incorporating Sources 370
CHAPTER13 Writing Argumentative Essays 376
WritingaSuccessful Argument 378
Before You Write 379
KnowYourself 379
Know Your Audience 380
Choose and Narrow Your Topic 384
Write a Sentence That Expresses Your Claim 386
Gather Ideas: Brainstorm and Research 387
Organize Your Ideas 393
Writing the First Draft 399
Provide an Interesting Opening 400
Include a Thesis Statement 401
Develop Your Body Paragraphs 402
Provide a Satisfying Conclusion 403
VIII Concents
After the First Draft 405
Read What You Have Written and Revise 405
ConsiderWhat You Have Not Written and Revise 405
Show Your Work 406
Edit Your Work 406
Hand It In 406
Sample Argumentative Essay 407
CHAPTER14 Thinking Criticallyaboutthe Media 418
The MassMedia 418
Social Media 419
The NewsMedia 421
The Importanceof Context 421
Getting Us to Pay Attention: What Really Drives the Media 425
KeepingOur Interest: The News asEntertainment 427
How the Media Entertain Us 428
Slanting the News 436
Media Literacy 440
Advertising 442
What Ads Do 443
Defenses of Advertising 444
Criticisms of Advertising 445
Common Advertising Ploys 446
CHAPTER15 Scienceand Pseudoscience 455
The Basic Pattern ofScientific Reasoning 455
The Limitations ofScience 462
How to Distinguish Sciencefrom Pseudoscience 464
A CaseStudyin Pseudoscientific Thinking: Astrology 475
Appendix A: Essays for Critical Analysis A-l
Appendix B: The Six Habits of Effective Problem-Solvers A-8
Notes N-l
Answers to Selected Exercises ANS-1
Credits C-l
Index 1-1
A WORD STUDENTS
TO
Let
’s be honest. Very few of your college textbooks will change your life.
But this one truly can.
This book will make you a better thinker. It will sharpen your mind,
clarifyyour thoughts—, and help you—make smarter decisions.
We’ll teachyou step bystep how toanalyze issues, reason logically,
and argue effectively. With effort on your part, this book will hone the think-
ing and reasoningskills you need to succeed in college, in your career, and
in life.
Criticalthinkingiswhatcollegeisallabout. Collegeisnotaboutcram-
ming students’ heads with facts. It’s about teaching students to think. And
that’s preciselywhat this book is designed to do. It will helpyou develop the
skills and dispositions you need to become an independent, self-directed
thinker and learner.
Collectively, thefourauthorsofthis textbook have been teachingcriti-
cal thinkingfor over 60 years. Teaching critical thinkingis what we do. It’s
our passion. We’ve seen how critical thinking can change lives.
But you’ll onlyget out ofthis course what you put into it. Becominga
critical thinkerishardwork.Sometimesworkingthrough thisbookwillfeel
alittlelike bootcamp.There’sa reasonfor this: Nopain, nogain.Becoming
a master thinker means toning up your mental muscles and acquiring habits
ofcareful, disciplined thinking This requires effort, and practice.
.
That’s why the heart of this textbook is the exercises. There are lots of
these,andallhavebeencarefullyselectedandclass-tested.You need todothe
exercises.Asmanyasyoucan. (Oratleastallthatyourinstructorassigns.) Do
theexercises, then check theanswersat the back ofthe book. Practice. Make
mistakes.Getfeedback. And watch yourselfimprove.That’s howyou’llwork
the mentalflab offand develop lasting habits ofclear, rigorous thinking
.
Critical thinkingis an adventure. Becomingmentally fit is hard work.
And thinking independently can be a little scary at times. But in the end
you’ll be a smarter, stronger, more confident thinker.
ix